Gifford Volunteer Chaplain Kathy Rohloff shares her personal reflections in this blog post. Kathy and all of our volunteer chaplains offer a nonsectarian presence. If you need someone to listen, and hear you with compassion, you can reach them by calling the Rev. Tim Eberhardt at 802-728-2107.
By Kathy Rohloff
Most of us experienced times of great excitement when we were children. Birthdays, Halloween, Christmas and a new school year/summer vacation were anticipated and marked on the calendar.
Those were big events but if we add in parades and picnics, camping and swimming, sleeping in and watching the stars our list multiplies quickly.
Sadly, if we contracted a cold or the weather was miserable, our ‘perfect’ day was filled with disappointment. We might have groused, “This always happens to me! I HATE today!”
Any day can be defined by disappointment. The hope that we had slips away and our mantra may be “life is not fair”.
Too often everyday life plans go awry, dreams disappear, goals are not met, and promises are broken. After that comes disappointment. Disappointment can cloud our every waking moment because ‘we expected so much more’.
Expectation lives within and believes that something good will happen. It can be as simple as no rain falling during a picnic or as long reaching as living happily ever after in a marriage. It is our “dream” of how life will be.
We may have planned in our mind a perfect life filled with a fulfilling well-paid job, obedient children, excellent health combined with great adventure and happiness. The reality is meals burn, engines overheat, illnesses intrude, and relationships falter and sometimes fail.
We would think life would stop during these times, but it stumbles on.
The only way forward is through and that involves living in each moment. When plans go awry, accept and adjust. It is normal and okay to feel disappointment, but disappointment is not a place that we should live in.
There will be a solution that may take our time and energy to find, but it will be found. Right now, there is a life to be lived.
Look for the good in every day. There is friendship and community, food and shelter, laughter and song, playtime and rest. Enjoy the changing seasons, sunrise and sunset, the ability to see and hear and move.
Once we take the time to focus on those things we can be thankful for, our focus shifts from those things that we lack.
Being thankful is the remedy for disappointment, the balance to expectation and available to everyone at no cost.
This one life we have been given is a great gift everyday.
